Hello.

This time, the theme is Cosmic Free Period, with a focus on introducing a game you can enjoy in your spare time.

These days, I only complete the daily quests for Reward Points, but I used to play MapleStory M regularly. I remember logging in consistently to reach level 250 back when getting there took a little longer.

What I noticed then was how little time I spent playing manually, since the game is built around auto hunting and automated gameplay. Bosses and guild content naturally require additional time, but the core activities of character progression and event participation take less time than you might expect.

If that is the kind of experience you are looking for, I think this game is worth considering, so I wanted to explain how it fits into a limited schedule.

Auto Battle System

Auto battle is at the core of MapleStory M. Simply join a party and activate it, and combat proceeds automatically for your remaining allotted time, even after you close the game. For added convenience, a patch introduced options next to the start button to stop combat when you leave the party or become its only member, providing a safeguard in either situation.

Once auto battle ends, remember to collect your daily attendance rewards and other rewards like these with a quick tap.

Daily Hot Time periods increase the EXP earned while hunting in a party, running from 8:00 to 10:00, 12:00 to 14:00, and 17:00 to 24:00, with an additional period from 0:00 to 2:00 on weekends, so it is worth scheduling your party hunts around these times.

Daily Tasks

The essential daily tasks mainly fall into two categories: daily quests in Arcane and Authentic areas, which award Symbols and EXP, and Mini Dungeon missions, which award EXP.

You can now use this scheduler to run them automatically in sequence.

You can also spend mesos to complete missions. From what I understand, beyond a certain level, using auto battle time in Mini Dungeons for these missions becomes less efficient, so players complete them quickly with mesos and use auto battle in the field instead. With this approach, you only need time to press the sweep button and complete the daily quests.

Boss Content

You can now enter Expeditions and boss fights whenever you like. The bosses you choose to fight will naturally add to your playtime, but you can take them on at a time that suits your schedule.

Daily Content

The essential daily content consists of these 4 activities, all of which can be completed very quickly.

• Edge of Space: Simply enter and leave to complete it immediately

• Expedition/Boss: Defeat 1 boss to complete it immediately

• Mu Lung Dojo: Record your floor once a week, then use the floor-saving feature to complete it quickly

• Mini Dungeon: Spend mesos to complete it, just as you would for daily missions

With this approach, you can finish in less than 2 minutes.

Events You Can Complete Through the 3 Activities Above

Although the current season is nearing its end, MapleStory M runs many events during major event seasons such as winter, as shown above. These events have different names, but they are designed so that you can complete them naturally through the 3 types of gameplay mentioned above. Once you have looked through the events and familiarized yourself with what each involves, participating is straightforward.

The events currently running can be grouped by theme as follows.

These events can be completed through daily missions.

These events can be completed by using auto battle to defeat monsters within your level range.

Finally, these events involve defeating bosses. There is nothing extra you need to do; simply play as you normally would and remember to claim your rewards.

Event stories that offer rewards, like these, also let you skip the story and collect the rewards directly, which is very convenient.

Minigames that awarded event coins also appeared frequently, although none seem to be running at the moment. I appreciated how quickly they could be completed, apart from the occasional unusually difficult one. Some events took only about 20 seconds per round.

Other Content Can Also Be Completed Quickly

Finally, I will cover the remaining activities that are generally considered essential. They require about as much time as the content discussed above. For a start, MapleStory M now lets you use multiple entry tickets at once, as shown above, so you only need to complete a single run of ticket-based content.

These activities cannot run automatically in the background, but each takes little time to complete.

They also count toward weekly content missions, so remember to collect those rewards along the way.

First are the weekly Arcane and Authentic Dungeons, both of which award large amounts of EXP and run automatically. Choosing quick progression when entering lets you finish within 2 minutes, and the generous EXP rewards make these activities well worth including in your routine.

The weekly Monster Park offers little EXP of significance beyond a certain level, but you can use its coin rewards to purchase items. It also runs automatically and takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds to complete.

The Daily Dungeon is considered essential because it awards Jewels that increase your stats. It takes about 20 seconds a day, and the weekly Chaos version takes a similar amount of time.

The daily Lord Pirate and Dimension Invasion activities award Auto Battle Charge Tickets and EXP coupons. Both run automatically, taking about 1 minute and 30 seconds and 2 minutes, respectively.

Tangyoon's Cooking Class, a daily activity that awards buff items, also runs automatically and takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds to complete.

This activity does require some manual input to adjust the heat at the start and add the correct ingredients partway through, though you can spend mesos to handle these steps more conveniently.

Finally, Kerning M Tower lets you exchange coins for items such as Auto Battle Charge Tickets and only needs to be completed once a month. Although my stats were not high enough to reach the end, I was able to earn a reasonable amount of coins in about 10 minutes.

There are also activities I have not covered because I currently cannot enter or clear them, including guild content and Epic Dungeons. These do not seem to require much time either, so they look like suitable options for when you have time to spare.

This may seem like a lot when laid out in writing, but I think you will be able to work through it quickly once you become familiar with the activities and establish a routine. MapleStory M also has an official PC client, so you can play on your computer as well.

Thank you for reading.